Market to Market

Recently a series of global crises has placed extreme stress on the logistics of trade domestically and internationally. While domestic transportation infrastructure has more or less remained intact, our abilities to protect employees, manage prices, and physically move goods from one place to another has been further complicated.

Transportation infrastructure is what connects U.S. farmers to domestic and international markets. Easy access to highways, rail, and waterways allow for efficient transportation of crops by growers and traders (watch this video to hear about where soybeans from the United States are shipped). Prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th Centuries, transportation infrastructure for large-scale trade was generally limited to waterways, namely rivers and canals. During industrialization, the construction and use of railways spread rapidly throughout the world, supplementing water transport and providing easier access to those locations without large flowing rivers or canals. During the second half of the 20th Century mass public roadways, such as interstates and highways, became increasingly widespread, further connecting those areas previously inaccessible by water or rail.

Why does it matter? The historical development of transportation infrastructure explains the shape of logistics networks today. Ground and water transport routes are still largely determined by pre-existing infrastructure, a great deal of which is more than a century old. Utilizing these routes requires many individuals on the ground, from the farmer who grows the crops and the drivers who operate the vehicles to the engineers who maintain the infrastructure and the businessmen who negotiate contracts. Each of these groups must maintain that infrastructure and cooperate to get goods from one market to another. Check out this webinar with CGB to learn more about how routes are chosen and what impacts grain movements. Another resource is this career video with Rusty Orben, Resident Vice President for CSX Transportation, and Jim Wellman, President of Wellman Seeds and Wellman Farms.

Resources

• U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soybean Transportation Profile
• U.S. Soy Achieves Record Export Volume for 20/21 Marketing Year